Project R

eat. sleep. jdm.

that about sums up my obsession over the last 3 months or so. what first started out as a casual remark by Charith Kulasiri, gradually became malignant. "you know, what if you did a type R conversion on this?"

Ever since I got hold of the GSR teg, this idea has been clawing its way around my brain. Finally, I set about doing it, but to do what must be done to its finest detail is no easy task. My end goal, is to have a 4 door integra db8 type-R in concourse condition. i'll break it down systemwise as i proceed.

my apologies for keeping this away from the AL forums for as long as i have, and i must say this is a conversation i wish to share and enjoy with like minded petrolheads. not the prii driving thel hinganno whose first queries are "wow how much did that cost?" or "now how much petrol does it do?" if you are the latter, read on in awe about how real tuners pump out over 200 HP from an engine the size of a mega bottle. or just go hug a panda.

firstly, here's the base car: before i bought it. a GSR spec 1998 mint Honda Integra DB8.

so i riced it up. forgive me. we all have our moments. at least, after a snide remark from schiffer, i saw this was not the way to go.

here it is after i did the interior and exterior.

now, the fun part. over the next few months or so i'll post what i've been up to with the:

1. engine

2. gearbox

3. ECU and tuning

4. intake/exhaust

5. cooling

6. suspension/handling

7. exterior detailing

8. interior detailing

Finally. At long last, the ITR sedan conversion is done!! Here she is in all her glory. More glam pics in the upcoming months! 

Few niggles I’m trying to fix. The front end didn’t come with fender liners/mudguards. Sourced those from uk. 

Also I was using a lengthened shifter linkage from an ek3 with a d series box. Apparently that’s why shifting into reverse and 2nd are difficult. Waiting on a proper ITR shifter linkage from the UK as well. Along with the stock dual bend shifter. 

And so, finally, I found the means to finish what I started and swap the front end. As I’ve explained before, the E-DB8 Type R sedan never came with the UKDM 1998-2001 face. It was only with the DC2 face. As much as I think the bud eye is eccentric and beautiful, it is dated, and I have a mental disorder. So yeah. 

I’ve  had the front end with me for over an year. Picked up from Dubai, the panels are all Aluminium. So much lighter than the metal ones I have now! Project ongoing at platinum. Will update more once paint is done...  

finally. finally i did it. i put this car on the map. nothing like some silverware in the display case to prove a point! 

not gonna say much. just this: 1st runner up, True Street Honda NA up to 2000cc. 

i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. that moment i got randika at the launch. happiest quarter second of my life! 

a few tweaks in the gearbox maybe for next time?

i've done a few updates for this race. installed the Exedy stage 1 clutch, TODA Spec C cams, tuned, and installed the Tegiwa Powerchamber intake, with a cold air partition as well. the partition was locally made by Platinum, and completely seals with the hood when closed, so that air is directed into it from under the car. there's no loss of power during daytime heat, as demonstrated! 

also, i had some gremlins during the runs. first qualifier, my AC and alternator belts snapped. luckily i had a world class pit crew on hand, so they went to kalutara and brought back the belts from the only open spare parts shop "bimsara motors" (hence the hastily photoshopped "thanks to bimsara aiyya" sticker LOL). the platinum boys fixed it up on site. 

next, with the first qualifier, my throttle cable snapped after i defeated the s2000. guess i was a little too ecstatic about victory. that was fixed with cable ties. the OEM honda type R throttle cable will reach @The Don in UK soon. 

also the new clutch wasn't run in well enough, and i was missing second gear. was a nightmare. reverting back to the stock gear lever, instead of the skunk2 short shifter, as per advise from almost all the pro drivers. luckily found the ITR/CTR dual bend stock shifter also from the UK, and yes, Don's the man to bring that too. 

all in all, it was the most fun i had my entire life, i was thrilled beyond words to have won anything! i built a racecar AND I WON! 

What does one do when there’s nothing left to do? The interior! 

Picked up a beauty of a steering wheel from Dubai, since I last destroyed mine while trying to clean it. Plan is to send the old one to the UK for reupholstery. 

And the floor mats mats off of the OEM ITR sedan. These are mint!! 

one of the greatest joys of having a car that actually runs and doesn't sit in the garage more often than it does at home, is that i can actually leather it now and then. this is one thing i am eternally grateful to PAS and Sabry for: for coming through with what they promised and building a car to last. it was on his insistence that i entered the drags. 

i stood no chance fromm the get go. i was in the 1800cc-2500cc NA class, and i was up against 5 other competitors who brought drag prepped monsters carried there on trailers. while i drove my daily whip to the track, raced, and drove back. but with a qualifying time in the 15s range, with the winner running 12s, i'm quite pleased! 

i was loaned a pair of semi slicks for the race. this is why i love this community. the love, people. the love!

our resident rice police @VVTi and @Bugatti both took part in the one make BMW event, and i was sharing their tent space, feeling much like the Geisha to a platoon of SS soldiers...

^^this, by far, is my favourite shot. this is going on a wall somewhere. Built. Driven. Inspired. 

with Sacha Peiris in his Babyzilla

here's the two time trials:

and here's the qualifier. i was booted out after this. but hey, i'll be back! 

this was easily the most fun day of my entire life. to actually have a car that could run a race, and then go home in, to me, was the real victory. and while i sat there, on the start line, with the throttle blipping on launch control, i realized i didn't even have to run the race. i'd already won. the result was immaterial! 

<-- this was how the other 5 cars went home. mine is still proudly daily driven. all i did was remove the stickers. 

this is the car up to now, and as with any project, its never ever over! i do have a few more plans. some of these are already in the pipeline, whilst others are mere pipe dreams. 

ENGINE

after running the December 2017 drags, i was sorely tempted to splurge on more power. what's the point of having a car that was built to take it and then not give it the best tools with which to do so? sabry advised on TODA Spec C camshafts, which he insists have better power outputs than even Brian Crower or Skunk2. and thus, with a credit card crunching push of a fateful button, these arrived:

i also needed to work on the stock intake, as it was restrictive. the aluminium piping i had sounded very harsh, abck in 2013. but that was also at a time where the car wasnt' tuned. after much research, decided to go for a Tegiwa powerchamber kevlar intake. this is also known as the "whale penis" intake. for obvious reasons. my whale must clearly be oriental, as the intake is shortened due to the presence of the ABS distributor. 

SUSPENSION

nothing major to change here. maybe an EDFC controller for the coilovers, so i can change the dampening settings on the fly from within the vehicle. if and when the GAB springs live out their useful life i will opt for a better softer coilvoer suspension, such as maybe Tein's new line. 

INTERIOR

the steering wheel needs a reupholstering after i quite judiciously once cleaned fungus off of it with undiluted dettol. the leather came off like the scabs of a sore. i still beat myself up for that. aparaade. this involves sending the wheel to the UK as none of the local upholsterers accepted the job. they can do it, but not back to OEM spec. so i first need to find a spare steering wheel. 

i've also got my sights set on a set of OEM red EK9 recaro buckets. nothing wrong with the SSCUS ones, but hell there's nothing like recaro. someday, if i have the money and find the perfect set. 

EXTERIOR

the biggest change to happen here is the JDM front end. the E-DB8 sedan was never made with the UKDM facelift front end. not off the factory. and this was what i sourced last from dubai as i got a good deal on a front end conversion, with a set of ITR headlamps (which have a black housing and plastic lenses, as opposed to the other trim DC2's which have a clear housing and glass lenses.) i also got the ITR lower lip in rubber imported via kapruka. took a huge risk with them 4 years after they lost my wilwood brakes. took three months but this time they delivered. phew! 

the conversion is here but i cna't find the time or the money to do it yet. so i've shelved it for a later date. for the moment i'm still in love with the UKDM face and have no heart to rip it off. 

i might also opt for an OEM spoiler if i find one. 

beyond this i haven't really given it any thought. i have no plans of parting with this car, so who knows? maybe a turbo? big brake kit? supercharger? let's see where it goes. for the moment its singing its song, and i'm listening! 

a few changes on the exterior were made. the most notable of which was the front fender. initially i was under the impression that the center grille and the bumper were two seperate pieces. they were not. its one large plastic mould.

and my front grille was unceremoniously removed by a previous bodywork specialist and replaced with chicken mesh, which i have documented removing very early on in 2013.

i had to make an impromptu crucifix grille in the meantime but i was NOT happy with the looks of that at all. 

eventually, with great difficulty, i found a nearly mint front bumper and lip from a dismantled ITR coupe, and had it shipped over. my god, the difference...

^^ the lights too were new. imported from an ITR in the UK, and cleaned before fitting. they look mint. the car looks breathtaking in these streettuner pics. 

the fogs had no place with the lip in situ, so they had to go. i didnt' remove the wiring or the switch on the handbrake console, as i had a feeling it'll come in handy someday. 

the other major change was the spoiler. initially i very proudly had a replica of an ITR spoiler made of fiberglass and stuck it on:

but then, i grew up. and as you get older, understatement makes more sense. it was time to bury the boyracer in me, so i decided to remove the spoiler. it was also very heavy on the bootlid, and as it wasn't OEM and made of FRP, it began to bother me. i was all about having a car with more horses than the mounted police and less fiber than your morning meal, so the fake spoiler had to go. 

it was replaced with a rubber lip, which to me is quite a subtle statement. i lau it !

a few other small changes were made. i removed all decals except for the ones on the door. and now, it was too cheesy and mainstream to call this a type R. 

so this was removed. 

and replaced with this:

not the clearest shot, but you get the idea.  

no other major aesthetic changes were made, but some major plans are afoot. i will elaborate later. 

the side mirrors were repaired as well, as one by one both retracting motors gave out. i bought two dual power civic mirrors and harvested the motors for the fix. they both fold perfectly now. tis these little things that turn me on. 

The exhaust also underwent significant changes over the last few years. i did a few experiments with it over time and eventually came across what i believe to be the best solution, given the requirement for a little back pressure, and the stringent as well as arcane local muffler regulations enforced by the men in khaki. 

i initially had an APEXi world sport 2 muffler mounted, and that went away when @Supra_Natural and i exchanged cars for a weekend and he was stopped by the cinnamon gardens police. i was given 48 hours to put a "beat ekak nethi" barrell ekak and come back. 

so i borrowed a stock EK3 barrel for some time and actually enjoyed the peace and quiet. during this time, i sourced an OEM ITR muffler, the gediya of which looked identical to any other OEM honda muffler, but was factory built as a low restriction exhaust. it gave a sweet note on high revs but was still quite restrictive. 

the cutaway schematic below shows the subtle changes within the ITR muffler which differentiates it from the GS-R muffler:

of course this was still too restrictive for me, so i decided to experiment a little, and being true to my Darwin award winning self, decided then that the catalyic convertor was the issue and...broke it. breaking the cat was a disastrous idea. yes the car revved up faster and i lost a bit of the restriction at low rpm, BUT, the sound. oh dear lawd the blood curdling caterwaul. it sounded like the dying moans of a hundred sodomized polecats. it was dreadful. 

having swiftly learnt my lesson, i then replaced the cat with an EG-6 SiR cat from a race spec EG-6 exhaust. as it can be clearly seen its a lot less restrictive and smaller than mine. <-- this is the spec GS-R cat. above is the EG-6 SiR II cat

later on, after sabry's rebuild, on his recommendation, i let sacha fetter with the piping, and got a full catback custom 2.5" exhaust system done by WEPR. this was mated to the ITR muffler until i had the final piece of the puzzle in hand, which was...

the Mugen Twin Loop! 

this was a lucky find. i was shipping some other parts from Dubai (which i'll get to in the FUTURE PLANS entry) and the shipment got delayed because the crate which was made was too small. it took another week to make another crate, and in that time, some poor chap in dubai met with a grisly accident which completely totalled his built civic. it was a front end collision, and the car was wrecked. my parts hoarder friend salvaged this from the wreckage threw it into the shipment the day before it left for colombo! 

i installed it and it was the bomb. quiet on idle, screamer in VTEC and so smooth. nothing quite compared to it. the joy was short lived, sadly, as i noticed the innards slowly coming out of the muffler and blocking the tailpipe. this was causing a tinny sound and a severe exhaust flow restriction. at one point i just went at it with a tyre iron and removed whatever steel wool and debris that came out. of course afterwards it started sounding like a proper tin can. it was unbearable. 

 many exhaust places refused to even touch it. my garage in attidiya was kind enough to at least open it up, as one way or the other it was done. this is what it looked like:

the inner workings were completely destroyed. i don't understand the logic of a company like mugen who makes such a good exhaust out of mild steel. they charge a premium for it when you spec the car with it, but it will only last you 5-6 years. 

this is what it should look like:

after many palaces still refused to repair it, i had to finally goad Sacha into taking on the challenge. he ended up replicating the entire muffler, and the only piece remaining which he used from the old one was the tip! his finished product:

it now functions perfectly, is an utter joy to listen to, and is made completely of stainless steel, with a lifetime WEPR warranty. as far as exhaust tech is concerned, the mic has been dropped.  

i will upload a video of the exhaust note and variations when i get the chance. 

i also sourced the original integra brochure, which documents the 4 door sedan, and the MUGEN Integra add-on leaflet, which clearly shows the 4:1 header and twin loop as optional extras which can be specced from the factory while ordering the car. i have shown this to the cops twice, and so far they have accepted that its OEM. both times i was pulled over while idling and it was not for the exuast note. just simple dickery. 

i will summarise what the Teg has been through from 2014 to 2018, in the next few blog posts. 

ENGINE

The car went through 3 additional rebuilds since the first before things start working aright. indika was not the man to have done this with, as he had no experience with B series hondas, and my vision was lost on him. i was severely restricted by the budget of my dreams so i couldn't afford any better. having said that, i have spent 3 times more doing cheap repairs 4 times over than i have spent doing it right, once, with sabry at PAS. 

the reason my Brian Crower cams were not producing power was that i had not raised the compression adequately in my cylinders. as i was unaware of this, i was running stock compression, which was 10.8:1, which is the lowest compression honda designed for the B series: the GS-R auto. the BC website quite bluntly states that one has to have at least a CR of 12:1 for their cams to work. in this light i was experiencing something like "anti-VTEC" where the normal lobes created oodles of power and when the wild lobes are engaged the car bogs down due to compression and fuelling inadequacies. 

on this discovery, and being at a bad place personally at the time, i gave up on the BC cams, thinking i have reached the end of my limits with the Teg and i will not be able to complete this. for the first time in my life, i compensated. i backed out. i sold the cams to Rumesh Rajakulendran, who was building his BabyMilo EK9 racecar, and reverted to my auto GSR cams. it was a very low point to have seen those cams go. worse yet, Ruma was thrashing every event he entered and winning by a country mile. he never forgot to acknowledge me and the cams. 

to add to this, a few months beyond this incident, sabry and i were trying to tune it, and the engine broke. the bearings had given way. and so began...

1. the second rebuild

i have her this time to a local garage, Shafiq's, in attidiya. he had a lot of experience i was told with B series hondas, and he seemed to know what he was doing. shafiq then pulled everything apart to find out that one of my chambers is not in line with the others. this required an overbore to remove the discrepancy, and bigger pistons. at this juncture Ashan Silva was kind enough to gift me a set of P72 +25bore Civic Type R pistons, which i used in the rebuild. the bearing failure had also cut the crank, so i had to machine the crank as well. 

sadly this rebuild lasted  the 2000km break in time, and the bearings gave way again while i was on the highway to galle, and it was back to shafiq's for...

2. the third rebuild.

the bore was ok now, but the crank had got cut again, and i was given the choice of machining it yet again, and then limping around, as it would not last many trips to 9000+ rpm, or buy a new crank. a crank from honda was around 80,000, while an entire B20B non VTEC CRV engine in toto was 55,000. the choice was obvious. so we harvested the crank from that engine and did the third rebuild. 

at this point i did some research and came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea to mix and match parts, such as take a b20 crank, pair it with b18 pistons and con rods, and then use a b18 head, as the measurements are all different. the garage thought naught of this and then went ahead. 

and again, i did the 2000km break in, and was on the dyno tuning it with sabry. the second power run produced 189whp and 280Nm of torque. and then the bearings broke. the engine seized. and this it was time again for *-drum roll please-*

3. THE FOURTH REBUILD!!

i was out of money, out of patience, at my wits end. my dream had fallen apart. i cannot adequately communicate to you the dejection i felt when this broke for the third time. my heart just froze over and i was beyond emotion. this was it. Project R had come to its end. with a son on the way and a house planned to be built, i was drained. this was my strength, my love and my life and it has just broken down for what i thought was the last time. 

i needed space. time. to think this through. 

one thing was for sure, i was done giving the car to half baked garages. this needed a pro. i wanted this fixed. so i sent her to Platinum as i wanted Sabry to repair it. someday. he removed the engine and i brought the body home. where it went up on jack stands and stayed that way until i could either afford a rebuild, or i made up my mind to sell her for parts and keep the Book. 

she stayed this way for 8 months. 

during which time i removed the tyres, and stored them in my room, and every sunday i would head out, and wash her, clean the interior and apply siddhalepa on the rexin surfaces to keep away fungus. this was my ritual once a week for 8 months. until such time i could find the means to afford a rebuild, and sabry could bring the parts down. 

the day finally did arrive, and boy did sabry pull out a corker. he had plans. big plans. he wanted to do right by me what numerous other people couldn't, and he made this his pet project. we decided to use the block from the b20 engine i had, as my b18 block was fried. and anyhow a b20 would have better lower end torque and thus be an easier daily driver. also my head was perfect. there was no signs of valve or spring wear and it was functioning normally. i had during this time installed a set of ITR camshafts also, and we thought we'd leave that just as it is. 

so the B20 block was harvested and bored to 2100cc. 

everything else was brand new. we ordered...

1. An Eagle crankshafft. aluminium. rated for 1500whp,

2. Wiseco pistons and connecting rods. custom made for my b20 block/b18autoGSR head, to produce a CR of 13.0:1. 

3. a block guard was installed as the chambers of the b20 are larger, and thus weaker than the b18. the b20 had a redline of 7200rpm. we were pushing the 10,000 limiter again. so a block guard is necessary to prevent the chambers from warping. 

4. ACL bearings

5. 510cc EVO 4 injectors, with impedance reset to match the requirement

6. AEM 320LPH high flow fuel pump, with a fuel pressure regulator. 

sabry took about three weeks for the work, and she was out again in all her glory. she was built with massive tolerances, where, would i ever need to scratch that itch, a set of aftermarket cams or even boost upto 0.8 bar would be easily handled. she was built to last. 

i do have to appreciate the effort Sabry put into this, as at one point he had made a mistake on the height of the connecting rods, and he sent them back to wiseco to get down the right ones wiseco refused to refund as the mistake was not theirs. sabry bought a new set for the right measurement out of his own pocket. 

i've switched over to LiquiMOLY MOS2 10w-40 oil, and it has been smooth sailing so far. it is only now, that Project R has truly come alive. 

the interior underwent a few subtle changes during this period. 

the black paint started to rub off of the original tan interior after a few years and this started bugging me quite a bit. added to this was the fact that the ITR coupe and sedan had doors which were lighter than the LS/GS/GSR trim doors. even the glasses were thinner to save weight. after much hunting, i managed to source an original black dashboard from a dismantled car in the UK, and had it shipped over. 

the painted dash had a grainy lacklustre finish to it, which was rather irksome. i knew it was painted, and in my mind it looked painted. 

the OEM black tho, looked just perfect when polished. also seen in the below photo is the interior trim of the ITR sedan door. i sourced the doors from a dismantled car in malaysia. 

the center of attraction of course are the 3 52mm Defi Advance gauges mounted on the winsdscreen. these have quite a story behind them. original Defi gauges are rare and expensive. and the local market is flooded with so many knockoffs that i really didn't want a local supplier to get me a fake set. after much hunting i found these online on Yahoo Japan. they were off of an Evo7. the bidding ended at nearly 50,000 Yen, and the auction was set to end on a day i would be at the Motorshow representing LIMITLESS. not wanting to lose such a pristine set, i asked for help from our fellow autolankan, @Muditha420. i handed over my login details, and he religiously watched the auction and bid on my behalf, winning this in the last split second, outbidding over a dozen other bidders. i don't think even i would have had the fortitude to see this through! i am eternally grateful!

i've added these for good reason. firstly, the gauge on the extreme right shows the water temperature. optimal temp is 90C. the corresponds with the water temp gauge in the car. the middle gauge indicates oil temperature. this is a more important reading, as the oil takes longer to heat up, and the engine should not be overrevved until the oil is at optimum temp, in order to prevent bearing failure. as the water temp rises much faster, the car's temp gauge is NOT a reliable indicator of when you can trample it. 

the gauge on the extreme left is the oil pressure gauge. this would indicate a drop in oil pressure in the case of an oil leak. 

of course apart from all this the coolest thing about them is the Blood Horsepower level boost you get when you crank the ignition and see them do their diagnostic sweep. #andenawa! 

apart from these i've also made use of the two dummy switch deletes on either side of the indicator stalks to install 45mm Proposrt gauges, indicating fuel pressure and stoichiometry. for some reason the stoich gauge never worked from day one. i suspect its not getting the right input parameters. i will fix it. eventually. its not really a concern for now. 

both gauges are seen through the steering in this shot. left is fuel pressure and right is stoichiometry

i've gotten rid of the unsightly rubber bucket carpets and opted for the black nylon wool 3M custom cut mats. they look a whole lot classier. eventually hoping to source the OEM ITR sedan carpet set from japan. 

last but not least, the piece-de-resistance: with great difficulty and much research, i found the OEM head unit that came as spec for the integra. sadly the Type R version is over 400$, and it only has faux carbon fiber printed on the surface, and "type r" written on it. this is off a non R, but its the same thing. only goes up to 90FM, but since im a fan of Lite and EFM, it matters not. quite a cool little device tho. i love the motorised sliding face! 

apart from this i've also gone for a full tint on all glass surfaces with 3M's 90% clear UV tint. it cost a packet, but the tint itself is not visible and it works well to cut the radiant and UV heat from the sun. as this car has a large glass bubble due to the extreme rake of the rear windshield, the greenhouse effect is quite pronounced when parked in the sun for even a short while. the 3M tint really does deliver what it promises. i can leave this parked in the hot sun the whole day and the cabin is bearable when entered. also the AC cuts off so much faster and the cabin retains the cold for a lot longer. the gas mileage has improved by almost 2kmpl in traffic. i kid you not. comes highly recommended. 

another interesting piece of kit i managed to source were the aluminium pedal set. this came as an option on the 2001 Type Rx, which was the last hurrah of the DC2, before it was discontinued. the Type Rx had dual airbags, a factory AC (AC was deleted in the first gen ITR's and later given as a factory option) dual power mirrors, plusher carpets, and the aluminium pedals. it was more a cosmetic upgrade. it also was the rarest of the integras! got hold of a pedal, and two pedal covers yahoo japan, and on they went. this was after seeing the Legacy B4 aluminium pedals on @Muditha420's car. mine were sadly nearly thrice as expensive as his :-/ 

this was where a lot of changes happened as well. nothing against ultra racing, but i did go into yoda levels of Zen with Type R lore whithin those 8 months of hibernation. in which i fell in love with the sleek aluminium struts made by honda itself. in his time i also found out that he Type R sedan had a production run of 1400 cars, all made for the japanese market. and within that, for the 1998-1999 model years, there was a very limited production of an OEM rear tower strut bar. it was the same as the front, with a specialized bracket. for some reason this option was discontinued in later models. 

so one by one the Ultra Racing braces came off and were sold to capable hands. i replaced them with the clean and simple OEM aluminium from tower strut. 

the rear tower strut was not so easy to come by. since i couldn't find one in japanese auctions, i then sourced another front tower strut and got a set of custom brackets from Tegiwa motorsports in japan. the only aftermarket company to make them. also in true Type R minimalistic style i stripped the boot of all the trim and gave it a few coats of spatter paint, for that on-a-diet look. 

another little gem was the spare wheel. i had a 4x100PCD spare which mind you didn't clear my GSR calipers. anyways it was redundant with the 5x 114.4 setup so i went about hunting for a donut spare. lo and behold, its the same PCD as the nissan leaf, and since that doesn't come with a spare, suddenly 5 lug spares were the bees knees. everyone wanted one. had to bargain one down to 17,000 from 22,000 at JJ lanka, which was the cheapest i could find. 

the rear also got some custom work done. i removed the Ultra racing rear member brace, and replaced that with:

1. aftermarket lightweight rear lower control arms

2. sickspeed rear member brace

3. Beaks rear lower tie bar. 

mostly since it looks so badass for someone tailing me! just showing off... poddak

the coilovers remain the same, however. they're still good to do and i run the a few clicks north of the softest dampening settings. i have, over time, replaced all the bushings with polyurenthane, and now the camber and toe settings front and rear are perfect. she does creak, and she is stiff, especially the rear, since the trailing arm is now more or less stationary! but hey, id rather that that replace tyres every 6 months...

possibly the only bit of the car that largely stayed the same during this period. the gearbox itself was left unfettered with. as the ratios were superb, and even the clutch was working well after runnin ghte december 2017 drags also. 

what i have changed of course, is the shortshifter and knob. went for a Skunk2 dual bend short throw shifter, mated to a Skunk2 weighted aluminium knob. was a costly piece but my god the shift feel is velvet cheesecake. and with all bushings being polyurethane, its just the right tightness with zero play. 

the dual bend is what's employed by honda in their factory manual GSR as well, albeit not being as short as this. 

BRAKES

a few upgrades happened along the way to the braking as well. firstly i replaced the master cylinder and pump with a brand new honda item, and flushed the whole system out for DOT4 brake oil. 

the rotors were upgraded again, as i had opted for 114.4x5 PCD hubs and the OEM ITR alloys, both components hunted down from scrapyards in dubai. i put in a brand new set of cross drilled and slotted aftermarket rotors. the brake pads are EBC green stuff. 

the front hubs, were replaced with the 5 lug ITR hubs. the caliper and rotor of which, i have read is the same as the one on the NSX. 

the brake lines were replaced with steel-kevlar cross braided ones form Stop-tech. 

this improved the brake bite and force phenomenally. the car would stop on a dime and the brakes almost felt like an on-off switch! if the acceleration doesn't wow you on this car, the braking sure will! 

a little activity i would like to blog on after a long time. this might help our newbie Sierra Charlie as well. here's the result of my negative camber on the front wheels. chewed through brand new tyres within an year. its gone down to the wire on the inner lip. i'm buying a new pair tomorrow.

this is not a result of me neglecting it, but of me not knowing what else to do after correcting the camber with adjustable upper arms on the front sus. learned later that you get adjustable upper arm mounting points, and got them down only this month: these give an added 3 degrees of camber either way.

to clarify, all this brouhaha is because i have an uncorrectable negative camber on the front passenger side wheel. even with full positive setting, there was -2.08 on that side. why only that side i cant figure out. maybe a previous accident. who knows? but as you can see it had its impact on the tyre. now tho, its all aligned perfectly.

to add to this, there was a toe out of the rear wheel. this too i didn't know there was adjustment for it. the gut at the alignment center suggested this, and i got down the adjustable toe arms as well. so now the rear alignment is spot on as well. finally.

on a separate note, i had some trouble with the AC, and as always, the culprit being our makabaases thinking "ooh this looks like it'll fit! let slap it on!". my compressor packed up, and when we looked into the matter, apparently i've been running a toyota compressor. now the interesting fact is that toyota engines crank one way, and honda the other way! so not quite sure how this managed to work this long even. bottom line is, we had no sample to get a new one from, and after much hunting and frustration, sourced a condenser and compressor off a b20b CRV engine. perfect fit.

to clarify my loving fan(s):

1. the camber kit, front and rear, (not available in SL) cost me 50$

2. recon IACV valve (OS at tech, 27,000) cost me $30

3. shipping for above $45, tax 1500

4. makabaas = NOT indika. not a repair i did.

more on this: despite sanka doing their job, i was still unsure since the wheels LOOKED like they were all askew. so since i had to get new shoes anyways, i had amila recheck the alignment. no fancy computers there, just good old physics and lasers. turns out sanka's alignment was perfect. maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. so ended up paying the price for bad camber. two new tyres. upgraded from the chinese tyres i had to maxxis victras. love the tread on these:

took her for drive on galle road. pushed it a little. grip is much much better compared to the previous tyres. no skidding when braking hard. no ABS engagement. rolling noise is minimal. alignment feels good. no wobble on thrashing or braking.

this is all relative. and i was running shitty tyres due to budget constraints. will eventually swap out the rears for a pair of these as well.

*-UPDATE-*

the negative camber was duet to the rubber bushings on the front suspension giving out. it was not an issue with the suspension arms or the chassis. this was later discovered and explained to me by sanka. as the rubber was designed to be on par with the stock spring rates and dampers, it became the weakest link through hich force was dissipated when i switched to coilovers. i had since then replaced all the bushings with prothane PU ones. the camber, caster, and toe now are perfect. the ride however is firmer, and PU bushings tend to creak sometimes. 

so that was a 1150km round trip, and the car was a blast. those hilly roads between pelmadulla and walawe, and then again between ratnapura and panadura were fantastic. grips the road like its on rails, and the rear comes in just perfectly. not a hint of understeer.

rough calculations give me 10kmpl. not bad, i guess!

meanwhile in batticaloa...

these two chaps were scouting the car and looking around, acting rather cheeky. then one of them "shape eke" leant against it while the other took some photos!

after 2 months of waiting, my shifter linkage parts finally arrived.

prothane bushings, with brass washers

linkage pin and clip. that pin costs 5000 here, but 5$ OEM honda part on ebay.

here's the shifter play before installing:

and here's the shifter after installing. feels so silky smooth... almost like hot caramel syrup on hirunika's thigh...

this feels so good, its unbeleivable. really feels like a shifter of a brand new car. well worth the investment.

also, got the play in the passenger seat fixed (again. for good this time round tho)

and a humming noise in the engine, due to a vacuum valve being faulty. got that replaced as well.

now working hard on the said tuning magic, and trying to find a front bumper.

this just never ends, does it??

lots more little little things to do.

She's back at ashans for that last great tune up. The BC cams are going to go back in, the proper way this time. And get degreed in, advanced/retarded etc. capped off with a custom tune from Ashan...

... On a hondata s300 version 2.0 chipped ecu 

A few updates:

1. Removed the bc cams and installed the stock ones to check on a vtec issue. Good news is that vtec is working perfectly fine and the car is a firecracker. The bc cams need to be installed properly and the ecu remapped. Previous tune by Zackie wasn't working for me, and I switched to Ashan silva from D&D. Work in progress, of course, I will be going back to him end march, so will keep you boys posted.

2. She's about to go in to get the cosmetics sorted. Paint peeling from here and there etc

3. Ordered the complete set of prothane shifter linkage bushings and linkage pin (6$ oem Honda on eBay, 4000 rupees in Sri Lanka) waiting for them to arrive. That play in the shifter is like having a thorn in my backside.

All in all, she's come alive in the last month after Ashan got his hands on her. Expecting greater nights once and cam/ignition timing is adjusted and remapped.

so during the big match weekend i got a few things sorted.

1. raised the rear end slightly. got tired of scraping my ass all over the place. a bit too high now need to lower it again. one of those "i'm never happy with this" moments

2. entire rear suspension bushing set was redone. car handles much better now and no "jabos" sounds from here and there when cornering.

3. got that awful paint peel-off fleck sorted. the rivet holes were filled, rear end sanded and painted properly. finally i have an ass worthy of talking about.

also had the power steering hoses replaced.

few other little ding dongs planned for this year. will update as it happens

Interesting development: I had an issue with the Teg over the last few months. She was getting sluggish, and vtec wasn't kicking in. Had to rev to higher rpm's to hit cruising speed, and had me thinking all sorts of things from final drive swap to a retune.

Finally had our tame racing drivers Dhilan Sabar and Nigel Perera thrash her around a little and see what's what. They both concurred on the fact that it was fuel starvation. Idle fuel pressure was 42 psi, which was normal but when throttled it dropped to the low 30's, instead of spiking. So the Perera-Sabar forum advised to:

1. Replace fuel filter, which was probably stock, and now pushing 15 years with our golden nectar

2. Service the vtec solenoid.

All done, replaced with a Nissan filter used on the track cars by the local boys, under 1600/-

And she shot out of the garage like a bat out of hell! Holy crap the difference!! Throttled fuel pressure reading now blips up to 60psi, and my god that makes a world of a difference tho. Still I want a more pronounced vtec engagement. Should speak to Zackie about it.

Custom ecu map by Zackie.

Perfect 900 idle. No lope even after a burn

Vtec engaged at 4400

Redline at 9000

And what a balanced tune it is. Loads more low rpm torque from 1500-3000. Car feels as nimble as a your wife's lover leaving through the window. Much lighter on her toes. And I thought it was my header that cut the power!

And she sings beyond the magic mark. Oh. My. God.

5am. Baseline road. 150 on 4th@7000rpm. Shifted into 5th. And she settles down to a comfy cruise at around 4000. Every inch of her says just try it. I didn't have the courage.

I'm back on eBay looking for the next upgrade: bigger hairy balls version 2.0. mine are clearly OEM!!

was a little bored today so i stuck some decals on the teg. these were long overdue. had them lying aorund the house. some were too big for under the hood, so i need to resize them and print it out.

*-couldn't find original photo. this was from a much MUCH later photoshoot-*

next up, the tune. just marking time til i can get that done. will do a dyno run afterwards as well

with great difficulty i found this online. have been looking for the driver's side glove box. its not there on the LHD versions, so naturally not easy to come by. finally sourced it from UK. i wonder who in heaven's name nicked it in the first place, but it left a gaping hole in my dash...

so an update. the much hyped about photo shoot happened today morning. i'm still waiting for the pro shots, but here are a few that were taken by the owner of that sweet a$$ boosted sera:

also, more on the build. i guess now is the time sanity prevails over its counterpart. in the effort to make this more easy a daily driver, i ordered a set of D2 street spec coilovers. the lwoering sprigns i bought are a clear darwin award winner, and i will never recommend them to anyone. the stock shock is too soft for it and the car tends to bounce like a playmate on a trampoline... and i fear for my engine mounts, dashboard mounts and testicles! those will be coming in soon.

also, getting a B16 CTR ecu, and will be running that for some time, before giving the car to zackie for a full tuneup. drove macroxx's car today, which was tuned by zackie, and it was a blast! that really is the last bit left. will be hobbling and hogging the slow lane til i get these issues sorted out...

Got hold of a b16 sir obd1 ecu. Gave it to Zackie to see if magic can be worked...

also, got all the little elctrical niggles fixed today. the horn ribbon in the steering cassette had torn off its moorings. so that was fixed. a new cassette was 5500 so i'm pretty thankful to the electrical guy for fixing the existing one. also fixed the decentralised locking issue. and the brake lights, and that annoying fog light switch which was always lit up. need to go back to him once more to sort out the seatbelt pre tensioner being on the wrong side issue!

zackie approved of the ECU i got, its with him at the mo. need to hand over the car soon for a tune.

brakes and coilovers are on the way.

one of these days i have to pop over to the fiber guy and get the front mudflaps redone. before they leave me.

aah, post automotive-coital smoke time...

the silencer is mounted on two rubber bushes. we left it a little room to wobble. it settles down at higher rpm's.

and yes, i wanted to lose the mudflaps too. maybe at least cut the fronts so they don't scrape all the time.

the endless hours i put into this really did pay off. i just can't describe the feeling sitting behind that wheel!

the datsun, yes, is getting a spec as-close-as-i-can-get SSS conversion. again, full interior, exterior, the works. L16 motor, 5 speed box, discs all round etc etc more details on the datsun thread as work starts.

as for the ITR, my immediate concerns:

1. ECU

2. coilovers

3. brake kit.

will update this thread as it happens.

met up with buggati and VVTi for a beer. took a few nice shots. will upload when i get 'em